Green Laser Pointer

[norm]

G'day All,

I went cheap and bought one of those 5mw green laser pointers on Ebay for $45. The 1st few goes things were working fine, but now the damn thing plays up and wondering if anyone has had similar issues or suggestions on a fix.

Its your standard pointer, with a rubber grip as opposed to the raw brush aluminum finish (looks similar to the saxon ones). What is happening is I press the on/off button nothing happens. When I peep (very carefully) I see a red 'glow' . I then unscrew, jiggle the batteries (2 x AAA), jiggle a bit more whilst its almost screwed back on completely then it comes on. I then slowly screw it back on completely. It will then work, but if I leave it and try again, say 30mins or later I need to repeat the process. I haven't attempted to yank out the laser bit as yet, but I'm at the point of getting the S@##Ts!!!

I haven't bothered with getting a refund as its not worth the cost (China).

I also did a dumb thing, since the AAA re-chargeables that I have been using were a real tight fit down the tube of the pointer, I thought I'd take off the plastic liner of the batteries so they would slide down easier. As such I created a circuit and nearly gave myself 3rd degree burns - lucky the batteries didn't explode! Even luckier, it didn't fry the laser.

Could this be a classic, you gets what you pay for ?

[ballaratdragons (Ken)]

Well Norm, you did get it from ebay.

The one important thing to remember when buying from ebay: 'Buyer Beware'

Sounds like you had an electrifying time though

[Gargoyle_Steve (Steve)]

I have just started having the same "10 mins - wont work - red glow" problem with mine, different brand pointer, brought mine right here in Oz. It's got to do with battery voltage, and therefore power delivered to the laser diode and circuitry, being reduced by bad contacts. You also get the red glow with very worn out batteries.

Sadly I'm still working on a cure - mine has only done this since it fell out of my shirt pocket and rolled through a puddle of water. As the internals appear to be basically sealed like a drum I'm not sure how to proceed. I might try flushing it through with electrical contact cleaner - if it will flush through.

If it helps at all - yours may have cost $45, I paid around $120 for my 10mW unit *gulp*